The Calm
by Erica Evans
Summary: Years after Harry leaves Hogwarts, his daughter goes to teach. The war is not over, Voldemort is not gone, much to everyone's disbelief, and Olivia Evans is not who everyone thinks she is. R&R please!
1. Chapter One

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The Calm   
  
By: Erica Evans

  
  
**Chapter One: Welcome to Hogwarts **  
  
_Author Notes: This is a post hogwarts fic, way post hogwarts, about twenty five years after Harry leaves hogwarts. It is not set in the "Secrets Universe," as my other fics are, and if your interested they can be found on my author page. The only characters that remain the same are the ones JK Rowling created, the "canon" characters.   
  
This was an idea that sprung into my head, and I don't know how long it will be. I have many unfinished fics, and they will progress as I have ideas for them.   
  
_It was the best seven years of his life, he had told her.   
  
Olivia rolled her eyes. Yeah right, Dad, and you fought a war during most of that too.   
  
But it was his first home, she remembered. The first place he felt safe, and felt where he belonged.   
  
Olivia sighed. She wanted to feel at home, and feel like she belonged. She had never had that before.   
  
The train moved along smoothly, the fields and meadows a blur passing by. She sat alone in the compartment, her owl above her in the luggage rack sleeping with her beak tucked under we wing, and her other pet, a rare white Kneazle was asleep on the bench next to her. Olivia had given up on her book, and it lay abandoned on her lap. She wasn't in the mood for Muggle romance, and she didn't feel like working on her lessons either.   
  
Laughing students ran past her door, but none stopped. No one had dared to bother her, and she particularly liked it that way. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.   
  
"I am definitely sounding a bit depressed, aren't I?" Olivia asked her sleeping pet, and stroked his back. "Well I have my reasons." The white animal stretched and purred, knowing what she meant.   
  
Olivia looked back out the window, and relaxed. She was eager to see Hogwarts, the setting of her father's stories. She had heard all about them, since she was a little girl. Stories about trolls and three headed dogs, and giants, and invisible horses. Hogwarts had always been a fantasy world, a place that existed in her mind and in bedtime stories. It had been a dream of hers to go there, and see this magical place her father had told her about. The place that welcomed him into the magical world.   
  
"Miss Evans," a woman said to her as she stepped into the entrance hall. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"   
  
Olivia recognized her, it was her Aunt Hermione, one of the few people who knew she existed. She smiled and gave her aunt a hug.   
  
"Thank you," Olivia said. "Its great to finally be here."   
  
"I can imagine," Hermione replied. "After all that your father has told you. Oh, and I suppose its Professor Evans now?"   
  
Olivia smiled. "Yes, and thank you very much for the opportunity."   
  
"Its my pleasure!" she exclaimed. "I couldn't exactly say no, now could I? Not to you!"   
  
Olivia smiled. "Probably not."   
  
"We'll have a house elf bring your bags up," Hermione said.   
  
"House elf?" Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow.   
  
"I still don't like it, but at least they're paid now," Hermione said. "Now, we've got to get to the Great Hall, the feast is about to begin.   
  
Olivia followed her aunt down a hall with high sweeping stone ceilings, and into a room that made her jaw drop.   
  
"Unbelievable," Olivia whispered, looking up.   
  
"Its not real the ceiling," Hermione said to her.   
  
"I know," Olivia said. "Its bewitched to look like the night sky. Father told me."   
  
Hermione smiled. "Let me introduce you to the staff." Olivia smiled and said hello as her aunt introduced her to hew new coworkers. She already knew the headmaster, Professor Lupin, but he was the only one she knew. Many of them were older than she was, but she recognized a few of their names. Professor Parkinson was Head of Slytherin and the Herbology professor, and Professor Abbott was the Potions professor. Professor Avana was the Astronomy professor and looked a bit closer to her age, but also looked a bit antisocial and had glasses that were too large for his face.   
  
Hermione rattled off more names and professions, and Olivia was half listening, mostly because she knew she wasn't going to remember any of them the next time they met. She took her seat next to Hermione and noticed that the seat to her left was still empty. The students were beginning to file in now, and the room became louder.   
  
"Hermione, is anyone missing?" Olivia asked.   
  
Hermione glanced at the vacant chair. "Oh, its Professor Bradley, he's normally late, he brings the first years up from the docks."   
  
"Ah," Olivia said, not knowing what she meant.   
  
"The first year students, they travel to Hogwarts by boat. Professor Bradley greets them, explains the different houses and the sorting ceremony and then brings them into the hall."   
  
"Oh all right," Olivia said. "I remember that part now."   
  
"If anything else is confusing, just ask, dear," Hermione said. "You didn't attend school here, so there are some things that might not make sense."   
  
Olivia nodded, and looked at the students. They were all matching in their school uniforms, and black hats, chattering away and anxious to get to the feast.   
  
"Hermione," Olivia said. "Would you mind if I tried on the sorting hat? Not here, I mean, but some time?"   
  
"Curious are you?" Hermione asked.   
  
"A bit," Olivia replied. "Father kept me from a lot of things, and told me about even more, and I've always wondered what house I would have gone into."   
  
"I'll arrange it with Professor Lupin," Hermione said patting her hand. "I don't think it should be a problem."   
  
"What house were you in?" Olivia asked.   
  
Hermione smiled. "I was in Gryffindor."   
  
"With my father?"   
  
"And your mother too," Hermione said. "You look like her, you know."   
  
"Thats what Father says too," Olivia said. "But I only see him in me."   
  
"In appearance yes. You have his hair and his eyes, but there is a lot of your mother there too. You can tell when you smile."   
  
Olivia grinned and nodded. Within minutes, Professor Bradley lead the first year students. Olivia thought they looked young and in shock, but they reminded her of herself in a way. First time at Hogwarts, taking it all in at once.   
  
"They're all yours, Professor," Professor Bradley said to Hermione and took his seat. He took a drink from his goblet and glanced at her.   
  
"You must be Miss Evans," Professor Bradley said and extended his hand. "Adam Bradley, Defense Against the Dark Arts and herder of the first years."   
  
Olivia laughed, thankful for a friendly face that was not covered in wrinkles. "Olivia Evans, Charms. I've never met a first year student."   
  
"You will tomorrow," he replied. "I've heard you're amazing. You at least look the part. You come very highly recommended from Professor Weasley."   
  
"Don't believe a thing she says," Olivia said. "And thank you, Professor Bradley."   
  
"Call me Adam," he said. "No need for the Professor nonsense, I'm not your teacher are I?"   
  
Olivia watched the sorting ceremony with interest, with Adam laughing at her reactions to each sorting.   
  
"How does it know?" she asked him. "The hat I mean."   
  
"It does," Adam replied. "There is a lot of powerful magic in that thing."   
  
"It looked exactly like I imagined it," she said.   
  
"Haven't you seen it before?" Adam asked. "You were sorted, weren't you?"   
  
"Actually, no, I wasn't," she said. "I didn't attend Hogwarts, I ws home schooled."   
  
"For your entire life?"   
  
"Well, most of it yes," Olivia said. "I had an bit of overprotective parent."   
  
"I'll say," Adam said.   
  
"He had his reasons," Olivia said to him.   
  
"Is that what he told you?" Adam asked. "What else did he keep you from?"   
  
"I was taught at home, but I wasn't raised in a cave," she said. "I just wasn't allowed to go to Hogwarts."   
  
"Until now."   
  
"Yes," she said. "Until now."   
  
"And what did your parent have to say about your choice of work?"   
  
"Not much," she replied. "I'm an adult. I can make my own decisions."   
  
"And how long have you been an adult?" he asked.   
  
"I'm twenty three if you must know," she said. "And I'm fully qualified also."   
  
"I wasn't doubting it," he said. "I was just noting that you looked old enough to be a student here."   
  
"Well you do too," she said. "How much older than these students can you be?"   
  
"Seven years," he said. "I'm twenty five, and I've been teaching here for five years. I also am fully qualified."   
  
"I'll believe that when I see it," she said, smirking. "Ah, food!"   
  
"You made quite an impression on Professor Bradley," Hermione said to her later that evening. Olivia opened the door to her owl's cage and tossed in a dead rat.   
  
"I can only imagine," she replied. "He was convinced that I wasn't old enough to teach."   
  
"He said that you seemed a bit odd," she continued. "That your accent seemed fake, that you had never been to Hogwarts, and that he was worried about your credibility."   
  
Great," Olivia said. "My accent sounded fake? Too bad its not."   
  
"He's the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Hermione said.   
  
"So that entitles him to be paranoid?"   
  
"Just watch what you say to him," her aunt warned. "He's clever, and he could figure you out."   
  
"He seems a bit cocky to me," Olivia said. "But I will be careful. Father would kill me if someone found out everything because I gave it up."   
  
"Oh he wouldn't be so upset," Hermione said. "If they knew that he was alive all this time..."   
  
"Everyone is going to find out eventually," Olivia said. "If what he told me was true."   
  
"It is," Hermione said. "And it will be a day to remember."   
  
"Adam questioned Father's reasoning for keeping me out of Hogwarts and training me at home," Olivia said. "I wanted to tell him exactly who my father was and his exact reasons. Its just unfair. He shouldn't judge my father like that."   
  
"Professor Bradley was reacting the only way he knows how, to suspect someone is hiding something," Hermione said. "Normally people aren't, but in your case you are hiding something."   
  
"When will I have to stop hiding?" Olivia asked.   
  
Hermione smiled. "Ask your father about that one."   
  
"It is too late, isn't it?" she asked. "For him to come back."   
  
"Twenty three years he's thought to be dead, and for him to suddenly walk down the streets of Diagon Alley would throw our world out of orbit," Hermione replied. "Besides, I think he's enjoyed living out of the spotlight for a while."   
  
"True," Olivia said.   
  
"Just cool it around Professor Bradley. He can sense a cover up from a mile away, and can tell instantly if you're untreatable."   
  
"Sort of like Mimi here?" Olivia asked, picking up her pet Kneazle.   
  
"I am amazed that she is still alive," Hermione said.   
  
"I remember when you gave her to me," Olivia said. "I was so excited that my Auntie Mimi gave me a friend, and so I named her after you."   
  
"At least you learned how to pronounce my name correctly," Hermione laughed. "I was afraid I'd be 'Mimi' for the rest of my life. Get some sleep, Olivia. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow."   
  
"Who is worse?" Olivia asked. "Of the years, I mean."   
  
"First years a eager, second years are bored. Third years are eager to get to their new subjects, fourth years are bored. Fifth years are worried about their O.W.L.s, sixth years are bored, and seventh years are eager to get out of school when they should be worried about their N.E.W.T.s," Hermione said. "But they all have their highs and lows. Each class if different."   
  
"Will they like me?" Olivia asked.   
  
"They won't dislike you," Hermione said. "Is that encouraging enough?"   
  
Olivia laughed. "It will do. Good night."   
  
"Good night, Olivia," her aunt said and left the room.   
  
Olivia missed breakfast the next morning, not because she overslept, but because she got lost on the way to the Great Hall, and found her classroom first. As she taped the chalk with her wand, she made a mental note to write ot her father for his map of the school he had told her about.   
  
She heard the door open and looked up to see Adam walking in.   
  
"Good morning," she said to him.   
  
"Morning," he replied. "You all right?"   
  
"Of course," she said. "Why wouldn't I be?"   
  
"I didn't see you at breakfast," he said.   
  
"Oh, well, I wasn't hungry."   
  
"You got lost didn't you?" he asked.   
  
"If I was hungry enough I would have made sure I found my way there," Olivia said. "Therefor I wasn't hungry."   
  
"Professor Weasley asked me to bring you this," he said and handed her a muffin.   
  
"Thank you," she said and took the muffin from him.   
  
"You shouldn't be so trusting," he said. "You don't know if I put anything in that."   
  
"I was actually about to scan it for hazardous magic," she said.   
  
"Oh."   
  
"You shouldn't be so paranoid," she said. "I keep expecting you to yell 'Constant Vigilance!' at me."   
  
"I'm thinking it," he replied. "Though I am surprised to hear you quote an Auror that was well before your time."   
  
"My father knew him," she replied. "It was drilled into me at home."   
  
"So your father was a paranoid also?" Adam asked.   
  
"Not completely, and why the interest in my father?"   
  
"No reason," he said. "It just seems like there is something there, something that isn't being said."   
  
"There is," Olivia stated. "And you'd be better off not knowing, so please drop it."   
  
"Hit a bit of a soft spot have I?" he asked.   
  
"Are you always this demanding?" she asked. "Why must you pry into my life? I don't know you, so why do you think that I'm just going to spill my life story out to you just because you want to know?"   
  
"I..." he started.   
  
"You don't have a good reason," she supplied for him. "And you don't have the right. Professor Weasley and Professor Lupin trust me, so why can't you do the same?"   
  
"I... will definitely try," he said. "You're right, I have no right, and I am sorry."   
  
"Fine," she replied and a bell rang throughout the school.   
  
"Thats my exit cue," he said. "Good luck with your first class."   
  
"Thank you," she replied, feeling a bit bad about what she had said. He had no right to pry, but she had no right to snap at him.   
  
He left the room and it soon filled with twenty first year students looking at her eagerly.   
  
A/N: Please review!! _  
_

A/N: Added July 13, 2004

To my dearest fans,   
  
I want to take a moment to apologize for not updating any of my fics in many many weeks. The answer is simple: I am in a rut. I have hit a huge brick wall of writer's block. I have about half a chapter of each fic still in progress, and no ideas/motivation to write.   
  
And there is another obstacle. My husband comes home from Iraq in less that 48 hours, so my mind is a little preoccupied with that.   
  
So here is the solution: I am not going to update for the remainder of July, and possibly into August, if need be. I think that if I don't think about forcing myself to write, then something will come to me. I do promise you this, I WILL finish each of the four stories I still have open. _The Lessons in Life_ is the last of the three part series, _Five Degrees of Love_ is going to be either one or two stories, most likely two. _The Heirs_ will be a one fic story, along _The Calm_.   
  
To keep you all interested, here are a few hints of things to come in the next chapters:   
  
_The Lessons in Life_: As Trevor's relationship with Anne Marie blossoms, Reagan devotes herself more and more to Brent. Look for a pregnancy announcement, three new engagements, a kidnapping, and some suspicious behavior from an American Seeker, all before Valentine's Day..   
  
_Five Degrees of Love_: After meeting someone he wasn't expecting at Jenny's house, Harry learns who Jenny's father is, Jenny learns about her father's fate, and about how Harry knows him. After many tears, some dramatic outbursts, and some lingering thoughts about a comment Ron made on the train home, everyone returns to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.   
  
_The Heirs_: Anna and the other heirs move to Harry's, and prepare for an eventful, and uncertain new school year. The war is growing, Anna's uncertainty in her own abilites, as well as the power she and the other heirs are supposed to conjure sends shockwaves through their three some.   
  
_The Calm_: Olivia Evans needs someone to confide in. Her instincts tell her that a fellow professor may be the key, but she has her doubts about trusting people, especially when they already don't trust her. But after a mysterious attack that hits Hogwarts close to home, she might need to just come clean.   
  
So stay tuned, keep in touch. If you all go and join the Yahoo Group I created ) you will have the most up to date information, as well as each chapter a day before the public sites do. Also there are random notes, timelines, pics and polls on there to keep you occupied.   
  
So thats all from me, see you in a couple weeks! Thank you all for being patient and understanding!   
  
Love, Erica Evans


	2. Chapter Two

  
  
** Chapter Two: Family Ties**  
  
_ Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  
  
A/N: Hey. I'm back, please enjoy. _  
  
"Now what do you all know about Harry Potter?" Olivia heard Adam ask his class of first years, three weeks into class. She smiled as every hand of the wizard raised students shot into the air.  
  
"Harry Potter was the greatest wizard who ever lived," a blond haired first year began after he called on her. "When he was a baby, he defeated the most evilist dark wizard ever, He Who Must Not Be Named. Then when Harry Potter was grown up, well almost, he fought him again and again and Harry Potter escaped again and again. Then, when he really was a grown up, Harry Potter defeated He Who Must Not Be Named again. And just like before, He Who Must Not Be Names disappeared. Now no one knows if he is dead or alive, but my mum says that since Harry Potter disappeared too then they both must be dead. She said that one can't survive without the other, so they both must be dead. Professor Bradley is she right?"  
  
Adam nodded. "Yes she is, Miss Harris," he replied. "The part your mum told you, about not one not being able to survive without the other is from the prophecy made about Harry Potter and Voldemort."  
  
The first year students had a mixture of confusion and horror on their faces. Olivia caught a glimpse of Adam grinning at them, and she hoped that he didn't know she was eve's dropping as she passed by his classroom door.  
  
Olivia sat in the staff room, rubbing her temples. First years were too much for her, and her fifth years looked at her like she wasn't good enough to teach them. It was lunch time and she didn't feel up to sitting in the Great Hall, feeling like everyone was looking at her.  
  
"Your father made you a pit paranoid also," her aunt said.  
  
Olivia looked up and nodded. "About some things.  
  
"Are you avoiding the rest of the school?" her aunt asked.  
  
"It sounds weird, but I'm not used to bringing around so many people," Olivia replied.  
  
"Its not odd," Hermione said. "If you were raised like the rest of were, then it would be. But you grew up knowing no one else but your family, the few of us there were left."  
  
"I know," Olivia said. "I just wish that I would get over it. I wish that I could get past, well, my past."  
  
"Do you resent your father for it?" Hermione asked. "For raising you the way he did?"  
  
"No," she replied slowly. "But I wish it had been different. I understand the why's, and the how's, I just wish I could get over them."  
  
Hermione sat down beside her. "Olivia, you were raised without a mother, cooped up in your house, and tutored by the best the wizarding world could offer. Every time you left your house, it was never with your father, and you were terrified that someone would find out who you were."  
  
"You know what's crazy?" Olivia asked. "As much as my father told me, and as much as I knew about the world outside my doors, and how potentially unsafe it was, I never really felt safe at home."  
  
"Do you feel safe here?" her aunt asked.  
  
"In a way," Olivia replied. "Probably because this is where my father felt safe. I had such high expectations of Hogwarts. Its still amazing for me to be here."  
  
"Enjoy it," Hermione said, and smiled. "Its a great place. Your father made many memories here, now its your turn."  
  
Olivia nodded and agreed.  
  
Her last class of the day was seventh year Advanced N.E.W.T. Charms. It surprised her a bit when a friendly red head poked her head in the door, early for class.  
  
"Liv!!" she squealed and came running into the room.  
  
"Maddy!" Olivia cried and gave her cousin a hug.  
  
"I'm so glad you're here!" Maddy said. "I almost died when I saw you at the feast. I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to come and see you."  
  
"Its all right," Olivia said. "Just remember, I'm not your cousin here."  
  
"I know, Aunt Hermione has already drilled it into me," Maddy replied, rolling her eyes. "_Proper etiquette is required while in school, Madeline. I am not your aunt, but Professor Weasley. And Olivia is no longer your cousin. She is Professor Evans._" Maddy laughed, imitating their aunt.  
  
"She's right though," Olivia said. "And you don't know anything about me. _Nothing._"  
  
"I know, I know," Maddy replied, nodding. "That was repeated to me also."  
  
"I was a bit surprised to see your name on the roster for this class," Olivia said. "No offense or anything, but you never seemed that into studying and school. Advanced seems a bit too, uh..." asked.  
  
"Aunt Hermione-ish?" Maddy asked and laughed. "She did raise me to do well in school, and I may not have been biologically enhanced with Aunt Hermione's knack for knowledge, but I do have Weasley blood in me. That has to count for something."  
  
"True," Olivia replied. "Weasley blood can be a curse sometimes. At least I didn't get the hair. It makes me less noticeable."  
  
"Well Professor Bradley has noticed you," Maddy said.  
  
"Oh yes," Olivia said, rolling her eyes. "He's convinced I'm a Death Eater or something. He thinks I'm completely untrustable."  
  
"I wouldn't be so sure," Maddy said. "He bought you breakfast."  
  
"Aunt Hermione asked him to," Olivia said.  
  
"Aunt Hermione was at home this morning. She doesn't live in the castle, and she eats breakfast with Uncle Ron every morning. He took you breakfast on his own. That means that he noticed that you weren't there, and that you would be starting class without any food in your system."  
  
"Aunt Hermione wasn't at breakfast?" Olivia repeated.  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Why would he bother to bring me a muffin then?"  
  
"I think he likes you," Maddy stated. "I watched him leave the Great Hall this morning and I remember he was, well... he looked nervous. And this is a wizard that I have never seen be nervous, timid, shy or scared of anything."  
  
"Oh please," Olivia said. "He's insufferable. He thinks I'm hiding something."  
  
"Well, you kinda are," Maddy said as her classmates began to come into the classroom. "He's not all that bad of a guy. A little protective, but I'd have thought you'd be used to it. He's the kinda guy who can keep a secret and keep you safe."  
  
"Thanks for the advice," Olivia said. She didn't know why her cousin was telling her this, or why she was believing her. Grinning she said, "now please take your seat."  
  
Olivia could not remember being as hungry as she was that evening. She was sitting in her office off of her classroom, grading first year worksheets. She didn't know why, but she hadn't felt up to eating diner in the Great Hall. Something about it bothered her. Probably the part where dinner at Hogwarts was served much earlier than she was used to, and she was never hungry until later.  
  
She ahd written to her father for his map of the school, and she soon found out that she could get something to eat later in the evenings from the kitchens.  
  
Someone knocked on her wooded office door that was slightly open, and she called to them that it was open.  
  
"Hi," she said when she say that it was Adam. He was carrying a plate of food and a pitcher of pumpkin juice.  
  
"Hi," he replied. "I thought you might want some diner. It was roast beef tonight, and it was particularly good. You don't want to miss a meal like that."  
  
"Thanks," she said and he set the dish and pitcher on her desk. "Did Professor Weasley send you again?"  
  
Olivia could see that Adam was blushing, even though the light was a bit dim.  
  
"Actually no, she didn't," he replied.  
  
"Ahh," Olivia said. "And when you brought me that muffin, had she sent you that time?"  
  
"No," he confessed. "That was also all me."  
  
"Why do you feel that you need to take care of me?" Olivia asked.  
  
"I... I don't," he stammered. "I just want to make sure you eat right and everything. I know how hard being a new teacher can be, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."  
  
"Well thank you," Olivia said and pulled the plate towards her. She was hungry, and she was thankful for a reason to stop trying to decipher first year handwriting. "But just because my father was over protective, doesn't meant that I can't take care of myself."  
  
"I'm sure you can, I just wanted to make sure that-"  
  
"That I was taken care of. I can take care of myself, Adam. I don't need you, or may father to protect me."  
  
"I didn't think that you did," he said.  
  
"You must have," Olivia said. "Or else you wouldn't be trying to do it."  
  
Adam sighed. "Look I didn't come to fight with you. Quite the contrary actually."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I wanted to apologize," Adam said. "for prying. You were right, your life is none if my business and I shouldn't have acted like it did."  
  
"Did my aunt put you up to this?"  
  
Adam laughed. "Nope, all me, again."  
  
"All right then," she said. "I accept your apology."  
  
"Well thank you," Adam said, smiling. "Enjoy your meal."  
  
He turned to leave and Olivia realized that she had referred to her aunt as her aunt to him and he either hadn't noticed, or he already knew.  
  
"You aren't going to join me?" she asked.  
  
He turned and looked at her. "I already ate."  
  
"I could use the company," Olivia said. "I mean, it beats a drafty castle with ghosts floating through every now and then."  
  
"Maybe for a few minutes," he said and sat down. "What are you grading?"  
  
"First year worksheets," Olivia said with a groan. "But its more work for me than it was for them. I can't read half of what they wrote."  
  
"I use bubble sheets," Adam said. "They can just mark what answer is correct. Its much easier and faster to grade."  
  
"I might try that," she replied.  
  
"Is that a Kneazle?" Adam asked, spotting Mimi sleeping in a corner.  
  
"Yeah," Olivia said, picking her up.  
  
"I've never seen a white one before," he said.  
  
"Me neither, until Mimi here. My aunt's half Knealze was her father," Olivia said. "White ones are supposed to be a sign of calmness, and peace."  
  
"Their fur is used in sedatives," Adam said. "Now I'll know where to come if I need to brew something to knock me out."  
  
Olivia smiled and ran her hand over Mimi's back. She stretched and purred and jumped down. Surprisingly she jumped onto Adam's lap. He let her sniff his hand and then she let him pet her.  
  
"I've never seen her do that," Olivia said. "I mean, she doesn't like anyone except for myself and my father."  
  
"Tell me about him," Adam said, looking up at her. "Not like that, just tell me about him."  
  
Olivia sighed. "He's a great man. He's proud, strong, daring, a true Gryffindor."  
  
"He went to Hogwarts?"  
  
"Yes," she replied, not sure of how much to reveal. "He was friends with Professor Weasley."  
  
"What does he do?"  
  
"He's a Muggle correspondence writer for the London Press," she replied.  
  
"He's a Muggle?"  
  
"No, he just writes for them."  
  
"Was your mother a Muggle?"  
  
"No, she was a witch. Neither my mother or father were Muggle born either."  
  
"So how does your father know about Muggles, and what to write?"  
  
"He was raised by a Muggle family who didn't tell him he was a wizard until he got his Hogwarts letter. Then he came here, this is where everything happened. What about your parents?"  
  
"My mum was a Muggle born witch, and my father was a pureblood," Adam said. "He was American, and she was British. They met at some shop in Diagon Alley. My father came to London as an American diplomat to the Minister of Magic and my mum was working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. And it went from there."  
  
"Did your mum know Professor Weasley?" Olivia asked.  
  
"I never got the chance to ask her," Adam said. "Both my mum and dad were murdered six months before I took the job at Hogwarts."  
  
"Oh Adam I'm so sorry," Olivia said.  
  
"Professor Weasley said that my mum had been about a sixth year when she started at Hogwarts. She said she knew of her, but didn't know her directly."  
  
"Well she must have been an amazing woman if Professor Weasley knew her," Olivia said.  
  
Adam looked at her with an odd look on his face, he was sort of smiling, but in a sweet way. "She was amazing. Thank you, Olivia. I think thats the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my mum."  
  
"Call me Liv," she said.  
  
"Liv?"  
  
"Yeah, its what my family calls me," she said. "Its weird to hear you call me Olivia."  
  
"Liv it is then."  
  
"What house were you in?" Olivia asked.  
  
"Gryffindor," he replied. "Mum was too. She was Head Girl, and I was Head Boy, and Captain of the Quidditch team for three years."  
  
"I almost feel like I was cheated, you know," Olivia said and glanced at Adam. "Because I wasn't allowed to attend Hogwarts."  
  
"Hogwarts was fun," Adam said. "But it was school, and at the time I just wanted to be outside, and not in class. At the time you wouldn't want to have been there."  
  
"True," Olivia said. "But to me it wasn't just something else I wasn't allowed to do. It was more than that. I was being deprived of my chance to grow up, to be on my own and to learn who I was. Imagine trying to do that with your father three door away from you."  
  
Adam smiled. "I'm sorry he was like that."  
  
"Its not your fault," Olivia said. "Like I said, he had his reasons."  
  
"So you've said," he replied. "Tell about your mum. How is she with your father being so protective?"  
  
"Well, she doesn't have a say in it," Olivia replied. "She died, when I was three."  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't know."  
  
"There was no way you could have," Olivia said. "I don't remember her, but I have pictures. People say I look like her when I smile, but all I see it my father. They both came here, both played Quidditch, both were Captains, my father for two years, and my mum for one. They were Head Girl and Head Boy, just a year apart. They knew each other for so long before they got together. My mum used to be shy around him and stick her elbow in the butter dish. But I guess she grew out of it. My father said once that she was a true Gryffindor, through and through but you didn't know it if you didn't know her."  
  
"Your parents were in Gryffindor?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Did you ever think about trying on the Sorting Hat?"  
  
"Yeah," Olivia replied and giggled. "Professor Weasley let me try it on a couple days after I arrived."  
  
"What did it say?" Adam asked.  
  
"It said..." she began and stopped. She was talking to Adam like she had never talked to anyone in her life. Her plate of food was still sitting on her desk now cold and barely touched. Mimi had settled onto another chair, and Adam was looking at her like a person, like she was interesting, not like she was a riddle. He wasn't thinking about if she was hiding something and or trying to find out what it was.  
  
"Olivia?"  
  
"It said that I was my father's daughter, and my mother's daughter all in one, that I had great potential and power and that I needed to relax for the true me to come out. It told me I wasn't my father, and I wasn't my mother; that I wasn't my grandma or my grandpa, and that I wouldn't have their life. Then it said that I was a Gryffindor since the day I was born and that I would have made my house proud."  
  
"So it sorted you into Gryffindor?" Adam asked and Olivia nodded. "Well, we would have been in the same house, two years apart. We could have played Quidditch on the same team. We could have been on the same Prefect board."  
  
"I know," she said. "It was just more that I missed. I did a lot of things as a child. I traveled, and got to learn from some of the most interesting people in the world. I had friends, but they were all related to me. You're honestly the first person I've talk to for this long that doesn't have red hair."  
  
Adam laughed and ran his hand through his hair as if to remind himself it was dark blond and not red.  
  
"Well, I can make it red if it makes you feel better," he said.  
  
"No," Olivia said. "Its better blond. Its a nice change. Its nice to talk to someone."  
  
Adam smiled and looked at his hands for a moment.  
  
"Olivia, I have to ask this," he said.  
  
"You want to know why I called Professor Weasley my aunt," she supplied for him.  
  
He sighed. "Yeah, I do."  
  
"Because she is," she replied.  
  
"Well, Professor Weasley is married to Ronald Weasley,"  
  
"Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron," Olivia said. "Uncle Ron has a Quidditch column in the Daily Prophet."  
  
"And how are you related to them?"  
  
"My mum was Ron's sister."  
  
"But she died, a long time ago," Adam said.  
  
"My mum died," she said. "I had a lot of family die in that war. Uncle Charlie, Uncle George. Uncle Bill and aunt Katie. They're Madeline's parents, you know."  
  
"Madeline Weasley?" he asked. "I thought she was Professor Weasley's daughter."  
  
"Adopted daughter," she corrected. "Ron and Hermione adopted her after her parents died."  
  
"Ron's sister was Ginny Potter," Adam said. "Olivia there is no way you can be her daughter. She died the same night Harry Potter did."  
  
"She's my mum, Adam," Olivia said. "I think I'd know who my own mum was."  
  
"But that would mean that your father is..."  
  
"Harry Potter."  
  
"And that would mean that he is..."  
  
"Alive."  
  
_ A/N: Read and review please!  
  
_


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